


The World Has Changed

by foxxed



Series: Are You Ready For Our Dance? [2]
Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Peggy is smort, Steve is still a time travelling idiot, and i oop, and in the end the only thing endgame was steggy, anyway, let's sew up all the plotholes shall we?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2020-09-24 04:15:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20352226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foxxed/pseuds/foxxed
Summary: After Steve loses his Time GPS, he has no choice but to stick to his decision to stay in the forties with the love of his life. But how will he live with the knowledge he cannot change what will become history?Sequel to 'We Can Go Home', this will not make sense without reading that one first.





	1. The World Has Changed

**Author's Note:**

> Well well well... look who couldn't live with that cliffhanger? [it me]

**The World Has Changed**

**New Jersey. Summer 1947.**

The small box was burning a hole in Steve’s jeans. While turning a block of wood into a sufficient table leg in his backyard shed, he felt the box chafe against his thigh and sighed. He wasn’t sure why he felt he had to keep it on him at all times ever since he got it a week ago. The idea had been swimming in his mind for several months now, but it still felt like a massive step.

Collecting cash from his neighbors doing small and big chores - Mrs Cullen had wanted her whole bathroom redone - around their houses, he had finally collected enough to buy the perfect ring. Or at least - as perfect as could be. In all honesty he had wanted to propose with his mother’s ring, but as he was legally dead - the ring had been given to Bucky’s family as per his will. Plus he really didn’t fancy giving Bucky’s sister a heart attack.

So now the perfect-as-could-be ring was in a box in his pocket, burning every day he chickened out of asking Peggy.

She had been round enough for him to not use that as an excuse. Sometimes she popped over for lunch, or dinner - or breakfast. With SHIELD so nearby, she thought it silly to go home after a night of… activities.

She as good had made Steve’s house a home. Her lipstick propped on one of the nightstands, her perfume in the bathroom, her work gun safely locked in a drawer every time she visited. Sometimes she just spent the evening on the couch, going through files and folders as Steve painted, occasionally looking up to find him staring. He already had a sketchbook full of drawings he had done of her.

Being back home in the forties - and being stuck as he lost his time GPS in the fire - had been quite the revalidation. He mostly felt disconnected. News took ages to arrive. A phone call could only happen if he was home, never he mind to ever be able to send a text asking Peggy or Howard if they were free. He desperately needed new friends. 

He outright refused to go to the SHIELD offices. After visiting it in the seventies and being so sure everyone would recognize him, he didn’t dare to try it even closer to the time he had actually trained at Lehigh. Colonel Philips had been boarded as a director, and as Jarvis mentioned every time - there was serious concern regarding his heart if Steve would just walk in. And that wasn’t the only reason - he was scared that being surrounded by soldiers, agents and spies, he would fall back so easily into being Captain America and try to save the world.

The world didn’t need him, it would be fine until 2012 where he would be fished out of the ice. Once his briefcase perished in the fire, he knew time itself was intervening of turning it into a new timeline. This was his timeloop. He couldn’t have created a new one by leaving his coordinates to Peggy if she had chosen for him to go if he tried.

His initial thought had been to ensure there was at least one timeline where he had been found earlier in the ice and lived a nice life with whoever. But now he had to live with the thought that somewhere in the ice, he was waiting to be found in seventy or so years.

It was something he couldn’t tell Peggy. Especially not now he was undeniably in love with her. It would be his burden to bear.

Ignoring the burning box in his pocket, he cleaned off the table leg and inspected his handiwork. Making furniture definitely brought in a bit more cash, even if he was receiving a monthly ‘allowance’ from SHIELD for ‘services during the war’. Howard had insisted. Steve only used that money for necessities like food, clothes and gas. And a few movie dates with Peggy. Okay, he had mostly spent it on Peggy - he was still trying to woo her. But the ring - the ring had been all his own earnings. 

He placed another block of wood on the turner, cursing that tables needed four identical legs.

“Hello Steve,” a soft voice said from the yard behind him. He looked up, sweaty and panting as it was a nice summer’s day and only four in the afternoon. Yet Peggy was standing there, smiling shyly - something he wasn’t used to.

“Peg,” he said breathlessly, “something wrong?”

She was staring at him, and it wasn’t until she bit her lip and looked away, he realized he must be quite the sight. Due to the hot weather and the physical labor of wood turning, he was wearing jeans and only a white tank top. His arms gleamed with sweat. 

His grimace turned into a cocky grin. “Anything I can help with?”

“No,” she said curtly, but blushing nevertheless.

“You’re quite early, aren’t you?” He reached for a clean cloth and rubbed his face. He had thought of growing a beard - as during his little 2016 snafu, it had been the perfect disguise - but as most men his age only grew moustaches and he, for the life of him, could not pull one off - he had stayed clean shaven. 

“I wanted to discuss something with you,” she said. The box burned white hot in his pocket. “Inside? Maybe? It’s sensitive material.” With a small tug of her bag, he noticed the files peeking out.

Worry bubbled in his stomach, nevertheless he agreed and walked up to the house with her. Nothing made his heart blossom than the ease that Peggy walked in and sat at the dining table like she was home. But then she laid out the files.

“I’m going on a mission,” she said bluntly. “To Russia.”

His heart dropped. She couldn’t go to Russia, there was nothing there for her. Because of the Timeloop she wouldn’t find Bucky and save him. Agent Thompson had been quite unsuccessful on that front and Steve knew that was thanks to the timeloop. The Winter Soldier would become a ghost story. He couldn’t even stop SHIELD recruiting Arnim Zola in 1951 and would have to live through many mistakes and wars. 

But he couldn’t tell her that.

“Why?” he inquired instead. 

Rummaging through one of the folders, she pulled out a file that showed a location and slid it across the table to him.

“We think it’s an old HYDRA base,” she continued, “the intel is good. There’s been weird occurrences and we think it might be the place where they’re keeping him.” She shuddered out a breath. “The Winter Soldier.”

Steve swallowed loudly. He didn’t have to look past the coordinates to know that she was right. They had been imprinted on his brain ever since Bucky had given him the file of all his whereabouts over the years. 

**1947\. On ice. HYDRA base codename LERNAEAN**

Peggy stared at him expectantly. “We - well, _ I _ \- was hoping you could…” At the raise of his eyebrow, she added: “You know things. I don’t know how, or why - as you’re still not telling me,” her voice was pointedly, “but I was hoping you could let me know any information.”

“No,” Steve said eventually. _ Timeloop, timeloop_, was chanted in his head. “I don’t have any further information.”

“Oh.” The disappointment was audible in her voice. “Well, I’m leaving in the morning -”

“Don’t go,” he interrupted. She looked at him startled.

“I’m sorry -”

“It’s a waste of time.” And unnecessarily dangerous for all parties involved. He got up, avoiding her gaze and reaching to pour himself a glass of lemonade. “Don’t go.” Sipping the cold drink, he kept his back turned to her. 

She stumbled over a few words before spluttering. “St-Steve, this is very unlike you.” Looking over his shoulders to hide his face, the look on Peggy’s crushed his heart. He guessed a proposal was off the table tonight. “Fine,” she then said and for a moment he really thought she meant she wasn’t going. “I won’t - if you tell me why.”

He wanted to grin so badly. She was a smart one, that Peggy.

“I told you,” he said after a moment’s hesitation, “it’s a waste of time.”

Without another word, she was scrambling for all the papers and hurriedly put them back in the bag without sorting. She rushed out of the house and slammed the door.

He winced. _ Nice going, Rogers_, he thought, and checked his pocket to make sure no actual hole was in his jeans.

\---

**Wheaton Airbase, New Jersey**

_ It’s a waste of time. _

Peggy huffed at the memory, pulling on her kit in the small bathroom at the airbase. _ Him _ painstakingly putting together that table he had been working on for weeks was a _ ‘waste of time’_. She stilled, regretting the thought. Steve was a perfectionist, but he had been working on that piece for quite some time.

All while he’s sitting on valuable information.

Telling her that it was a waste of time only increased her desire to go to Russia. It also increased the level of danger she must be facing.

“Director?” A soft tap on the door pulled her out of her thoughts. “Boarding in ten minutes.”

“Thank you, Agent Fowl.”

As she strapped in her gun belt, a sudden regret flushed over her. She should’ve have rushed out of Steve’s house like that - what if he knew something bad was going to happen in Russia? Or her?

She had many theories on why Steve knew so much ever since his return. Each of them more ridiculous than the last. According to him he had been away for a much longer time than since she heard him crash the plane. Her main theory was that he had already lived through this time, and he was doing a do-over. She only hoped that the thing he wanted to reverse did not happen in Russia and that she had needed to take his warning a bit more serious.

Shaking her head, she made her way out. If Steve was trying to stop her from doing something - he would’ve been more forceful.

The thrill of a mission - her first even as a director - always gave her an adrenaline boost and the flight felt way too long before they touched base. 

They had an intricate plan, which included not to take any asylum seekers. She had learned that the hard way with Fennhoff. There had been news there had been a scuffle in the SSR prison between him and Doctor Zola, but her wardens had assured all was taken care of. She felt a lot safer going into a Hydra base knowing that Zola was locked up, and that Fennhoff was not there to hypnotise anyone.

“Drop off in five,” the pilot instructed and her and her team of agents - a small collection - prepared for the jump. She hadn’t dared to ask the Howling Commandos to help again. Something in her knew that she wouldn’t be able to stick to Steve’s wish of remaining dead if she faced them.

As planned the drop off went smoothly. She only hoped going into Russia would be just as smooth.

The vans shook heavily as they made their way to the base and when they reached it, Peggy couldn’t help but being… disappointed.

Weeds had overgrown the fences. Nature looked like it had taken over the building and all posts were deserted.

“Newspaper in the outlooker’s office dates end of last year, director Carter,” Fowl reports after inspecting. She tried not to look let down. An abandoned base did sound like a waste of time.

“Let’s split and search,” she ordered. Taking the left wing for herself once inside.

\--- 

The dripping of water was very unnerving to Peggy. It was the only sound beside her breathing and she thought her intakes were louder than the dripping. 

The place was a maze.

A feeling of unease was creeping down her spine. Something she didn’t like as she normally felt fully in control during missions. She was in her element - this is what she was trained to do. 

But the entire place had a sense of foreboding. Her hand was even trembling as she turned another corner. Splitting up had been a bad idea, however the place seemed enormous. She only hoped that hearing no bullets fired or shouts, that her team was all right. 

The hallway she had entered had several doors. All suspiciously looking like holding cells, considering the heavy bars and locks on each of them. Did Hydra keep the Winter Soldier here?

She let out a low whistle, listening to its echo and getting no response. No one of her team had reached this part yet. Her heart was thumping in her throat, unnecessarily it turned out - as all the cells were empty and open.

Had Steve been right? Had this really just been a waste of time?

Then she heard it. 

The rattle of chains, the soft grunt of a man - someone was at the door leading to the next hallway. She let out another low whistle and was met with the chains rattling and not a whistle in return. It wasn’t someone from her team.

The door at the end of the hallway didn’t lead to a cell, or a different hallway with more cells. It looked more like a laboratory, furnished with several intricate machines and the floor was damp.

From the corner of her eye she spotted movement, which was in sync with the rattling of chains. Her heart was thumping loudly again. She knew she should wait for back up - but considering no one can hear her whistle meant everyone was out of reach. 

Whoever the man was - the Winter Soldier? A Hydra prisoner? A trap? - he appeared to be tied up with _ chains _. It was reckless, naturally, but hearing Steve say the mission was a waste of time, she opened the door without thought. 

He was in the right corner, facing the wall with back to her. Shirtless, and looking like someone who rapidly lost weight in a short period of time, he had his head down in defeat. She felt a rush of pity.

Breathing seemed to be hard for him, as every deep breath he tried to take, required him to heave himself up the chains - causing them to rattle. 

His hair was dirty, reaching his shoulders and looked matted. There was something… familiar about him.

The man breathed again, heaving the chains which was followed by a rattle. She realized that it wasn’t him breathing - he was trying to release himself from the thick chains. How could any man think they’d be able to do that? The chains looked enforced with extra steel - there’d be no way of him escaping that. 

Slowly she approached, keeping her gun on him just in case.

Her feet couldn’t have made any sound - it should’ve been droned out by the chains rattling and his heavy breathing, but his head jerked at her first step.

“Don’t move,” she said automatically, “I am armed.”

And to her surprise - he didn’t move. He was still breathing heavily but no attempts at trying to escape the chains were made.

“Who are you?” she asked, first in English then in Russian. “Where are the others?”

He didn’t answer. He just sat there, a bit straighter even it seemed. Was he - hopeful? Hopeful she was there to save him?

His head made the tiniest twitch and she cocked her gun. “I told you not to move.”

“_P - P -” _ he muttered. His voice was hoarse, and again strangely familiar. Instinctively she lowered her gun and in that moment he turned his head sideways. 

She inhaled sharply.

That profile. She knew that profile. If anything she knew that profile very well - she had stormed out of that profile a mere twenty-four hours ago. _ In New Jersey _.

“_P-Peggy?” _ he said, his voice more like a hoarse breath than anything else. 

“Steve?”

It couldn’t be. She had seen him yesterday. Her Steve had been working on a table, looking as fit as can be. Clean shaven, hair neatly trimmed - body in top form.

The Steve she was facing looked like he had been chained for weeks, if not _ months_. If not… as long as her Steve had suddenly reappeared. _ No_… what? It couldn't be. It didn’t make sense.

“_P-Peggy?_” he said again, wincing like it took him all the strength he could muster. “Is it you?”

“I don’t understand,” she said, more to herself than the man in chains. 

If her Steve was in New Jersey, who was this Steve?

Or…

Who was the Steve in New Jersey?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well well well... look who still can't resist a good cliffhanger? [it me]
> 
> Do kudo and comment xx


	2. And None of Us Can Go Back.

**New Jersey. Summer 1947**

Steve heard the car door slam from his kitchen in the back of the house. Curious, and on high alert, he tried to see who it was without being spotted, but there was no need.

“Steve? I know you’re there.”

Howard appeared in the window to the living room. It wasn’t unusual for Howard to be there, but it was unusual for Howard himself to be knocking. Usually he let Jarvis do the job and Steve would find out what Howard was there for. Whatever was going on, Howard had felt the need to deliver news himself.

“Steve? You need to come with me.”

Now that definitely was unusual. He moved to be in view, however, he did not make any attempt to open the door for him.

“What’s going on? Is Peggy all right?” He hasn’t heard any news yet, he figured she’d still be in Russia. Or if it had been a quick mission, he figured she wasn’t quite ready to forgive him for a few days ago.

“Pal,” Howard said in his most Howard voice, “I volunteered before she changed her mind to get you to the office by… official means.”

Steve had a feeling what official means meant. “Am I under arrest?”

“No.” The ‘not yet’ was silent. “Please, I’m sure there’s an explanation. For why… why he - you -“ Howard shook his head.

He? “You found someone? In Russia?” _ Bucky_. His brain short circuited. It couldn’t be, it wasn’t possible. How was time going to fix this?

“Sorry, pal, I really can’t say until we’re at the base. Just please come quietly and you’ll see.” And so with a lump in his throat, Steve did as asked.

The ride to Camp Lehigh felt longer than it actually was. To Steve’s surprise, Howard was riding one of the base cars himself, leaving little room to ask questions. 

“Is Peggy all right at least?” He wanted to know.

“I honestly don’t know -” he backtracked immediately when he saw Steve’s face from the corner of his eye, “I mean - physically she seems fine. It’s just - okay, all I know is that they cut the mission short and returned with a prisoner of some sorts. And whoever it is, really upset Peggy and she needed to talk to you immediately.” 

Steve swallowed. It would only make sense that she found Bucky, but the likelihood they brought him back in such a short span could only mean either Bucky was still frozen - or it was a trap.

As they arrived, he couldn’t help but notice the lack of people.

“Where is everyone?”

Howard grunted. “Peggy thought it wise to evacuate the place and have only the crew that was on the mission at the base.” He glanced at him. “I personally thought it wise not to question her.” Steve quietly agreed, and internally sighed in relief there were very few people to recognize him.

The SHIELD Headquarters were still very new. The smell of paint unmistakable and the underground base not quite ready yet. It was definitely the oddest visit to a place since his travels, after seeing it in so many different decades.

They stopped in front of a door where Howard told him to go in. “That’s all the orders I got. I’ll let her know you’re here.” Nerves coiled in his stomach. He hated the unknown and wished Peggy would have come straight to him rather than him having to sit through the past hour.

The room turned out to be an observation area, with a big window overseeing what looked like a sick bay. Bucky must be there, he thought and indeed saw someone in the nearest bed. He approached the window, his heart beating at the thought that maybe - maybe he did get to save Bucky in this timeline after all.

But it wasn’t Bucky in the bed. 

He was looking at himself, lying unconscious in bed with several IVs tethered to him. 

Before he could fully comprehend what was going on, the familiar sound of a gun cocking filled his ears.

\---

It pained Peggy to point her gun yet another time at Steve. Even though it was a different Steve that she had rescued from Russia.

This one didn’t look tortured recently, or skinnier - but he did look older. Lined. Fine grey hairs turning his hair silvery gold.

The Steve that was in the bed looked closer to the Steve she had kissed in the back of Schmidt’s car, even with longer hair and a scruffy beard.

“Who are you?” she demanded to know. The man in front of her had his hands raised, eyes flickering from the gun to the man in the bed.

“I’m Steve Rogers,” he replied with so much earnest it made her heart weep.

“Then who is he?” 

Peggy wasn’t quite ready for him to say: “I think… that’s also Steve Rogers.”

After approaching the Steve in chains and facing him, the absolute relief on his face broke her. 

“How - what -” she couldn’t quite form any words, her brain wrecked trying to make sense of the situation. He had given her one final look before collapsing in the chains. Not daring to touch him, she looked around trying to find the source of the chains and managed to release him after trying several levers. 

“Director Carter?” Agent Fowl had entered the room, his face blank with shock at the sight. “Who -”

She shook her head and simply started giving instructions. Her rule on not taking any refugees be damned - this… this was _ Steve_. Or… no - this… She wasn’t sure, but he was in need of help. 

From the corner of her eye she spotted something shiny and her breath hitched. It was a briefcase, but not any briefcase - she knew this one. It was Steve’s - the Steve back in New Jersey. The briefcase that should’ve had perished in the lab’s fire.

More people from her team entered and stared at the heap that vaguely resembled Captain America. 

Vaguely resembling the man she was pointing a gun at. 

“Where did you find him?” he asked and a pang of anger struck through Peggy’s body as she stepped forward threateningly.

“You are in no position to ask questions,” she hissed. “Who is _ he?_” Who are _ you? _

Steve looked around the room so quickly, she thought she had imagined it. Until his eyes were fixed on the table where the silver briefcase laid.

“Oh God,” he said quietly. “The - the fire - they must have -”

Walking backwards, gun still pointed, Peggy reached for something she had retrieved from the briefcase before Steve had entered. She hadn’t had the chance to look yet, but knew it was the folder Steve had promised her in return should she decide for him to leave. This time the seal was broken.

Steve’s eyes flickered from the folder to the man in the bed and back to Peggy, silent defeat scarring his face.

“Read it,” he said, “the letter - please.”

\---

There was nothing more he wanted to do than just collapse into a chair, bury his face in his hands and try to forget how much he messed up. He couldn’t though, not with Peggy single handedly opening the folder and smoothing out the letter, all while she kept her gun pointed at him.

He swallowed as her eyes scanned the paper. Writing it seemed like a lifetime ago, a spur of the moment - a test almost.

It took another lifetime watching her read it. She appeared to have stopped and reread it several times before looking up, tears pooling in her eyes.

“I don’t understand,” she said with a cracking voice, “how?”

“It’s - a long story -”

“You’ve been saying that for months now,” she accused. There was no doubt she was angry. “I’ve waited, patiently I may add, but you continued to keep it from me.” She lowered the gun, eyes back on the man in the bed. “So he’s you?”

“He’s to become me, but...” he wavered, “I think by me coming here, I’ve created a new timeline. He’s no longer my past,” a pause, “I am no longer his future.”

Tears streamed down her face, but the anger in her eyes was stronger.

“How long -” she shuddered, “how long was he supposed to stay in the plane? How long did - did you -”

“Almost seventy years.”

She stared at him in horror. “They - _ we _ \- didn’t find you until - until -” Her chest heaved with hiccups and he wanted to reach forward to hold her - to comfort her but she coiled away from him. “What - you were going to -” She wiped her face, damning her tears and cursing. “So if you hadn’t lost this -” she pointed at the case and the folder, “- and with the… choice you gave me -”

“If you had told me to go,” Steve said slowly, “I thought that maybe he deserved a chance.” He stared through the window.

“_Steve_,” her voice was low, “you absolute _ idiot_.”

His head snapped back, worried at the sharp return of her anger as she was holding the letter so fiercely, it crumpled.

“You - _ Steve_, how do you _ think _ \- you just decided to barge back into our - to _ my _ \- life and hide this from me? If I decided to let you back? Of _ course _ I let you back into my life, Steve. There never was a choice without the obvious answer. I _ love _ you.”

His heart thumped so loudly it clouded his hearing.

“But -” his heart stopped. “If you - if _ I _ had told you to go, you thought you could just leave me and replace yourself?”

He gasped in horror. “Peggy - no!”

“And if I had told you to stay, you were going to let _ him _ -” she pointed at the window, “stay in that _ damned _ plane for seventy years? You were going to live with it even _ now_? Without the briefcase, just live with the fact that somewhere, deep in ice _ you were waiting?_”

“Peggy, please - let me explain.” He rushed forward, ready to beg on his knees. “Peggy, please. I didn’t - I didn’t think it would come to this. I thought I could - I could -”

She threw him the letter. “You didn’t_ think_. At all.”

“Peggy -”

“No, _ Steve _ \- stop. Just. Stop.” Her back hit a door and he knew she would leave before he could properly explain. 

“Peg -” He exhaled. “I love you.”

And with a sob that was almost cry, she fled the room.

\---

Peggy cried like she had never cried before. Not when her brother died, not when she had lost Steve and not when Howard had hid the last vial of blood from her.

Sobs wrecked through her chest, through her _ soul_.

She couldn’t comprehend. The man she had been with - the man she had been loving - was from a different time. Although she couldn’t kid herself that she didn’t know there was something off about him ever since his return, the concept of time travel seemed ludicrous. 

Did it though?

Didn’t Steve tried to explain it to her once before?

_ “Peg,” he had said, holding a small shield and a round disks. “I want you to remember that once upon a time, I went into a machine, in this very room, as a different version of myself. My actual self.” He had walked toward her and gave her her small shield. “I want you to remember that weird things happen. That a man with a red skull tried to take over the world, that dangerous weapons were created because of a glowing cube -” He stepped back, leaving her with the shield. “And that a much smaller man got injected with a serum -” he held up the disk, “- and turned much, much bigger.” _

And she had suddenly hold the full size shield.

It had been science beyond the abilities. Beyond their time. Futuristic. 

She continued to walk briskly through the corridor, a hiccup still escaping her mouth every now and then. Somewhere she knew she believed him. But that didn’t excuse his ridiculous plan of keeping himself on ice as he lived his life with… with her.

He loved her. This Steve, this Steve that waited for seventy years - how old must she have been when he woke? Had she even still been alive?

Suddenly she halted. How long had he been awake in the future before he travelled back? A year? Or even years? A decade?

_ “There was a war, multiple in fact.” _And he had fought in them.

She shuddered out a breath, continuing on and walking past Agent Fowl who took no notice of her. 

Steve Rogers had lived part of his life unable to be with her. He had risked it all and came back to her. Came back with a great deal of knowledge of what he was going to live through. Seventy years is plenty of time to muck things up.

Two Steves, both near each other and awake. How was she going to deny one of them to live their lives?

\---

Agent Fowl wasn’t moving on his own accord. Even his thoughts weren’t his own. All he heard was the strange doctor’s voice.

After they split the team to search the base, Fowl had run into the short man and before he could action, the world had gone blank. He just remembered his orders. Return with the asset. SHIELD. _ Say the words_. Finish.

He entered the sick bay where the soldier was still resting. His eyes were trained on his face and the doctor’s voice echoed in his head, taking control of his mind and his voice.

_ Say the words_.

Fowl didn’t even know what they meant. The language sounded Russian. After three words, the soldier’s eyes opened wide. He started to fight the IVs that were restraining him to the bed, but Fowl was already continuing.

_ Say the words_.

The solder stopped fighting, panting heavily while half out of the bed as Fowl uttered the final words.

For a good minute they stared at each other. Fowl still removed from his own mind and the soldier blank in his eyes.

_ Finish_.

“Soldat?” Even his voice didn’t sound like him. Then the soldier spoke.

“_Ready to comply._”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oof


	3. All We Can Do Is Our Best

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [walks in with a Starbucks and a croissant] Sorry hons, I've been on holiday. 
> 
> Have some smut

**All We Can Do Is Our Best.**

**Camp Lehigh, Summer 1947**

Steve wanted to bang his head on the door where Peggy just vanished through. Months of his life slipped through his fingers - future months of happiness were fading from ever to exist.

He had messed it up.

How was he ever to be forgiven? Not just by Peggy, but by himself too. He turned to look at himself, still unconscious in the bed, and swallowed hard. The scene looked familiar, when he thought he had awoken in New York. When for a second he had thought he had been _ saved._ Before the radio - and the SHIELD Agent’s bra - had broken the dream.

Now he had been found by Peggy of people. In Russia.

Steve tried to imagine how he would react to learn that he was already there - already loving Peggy. Learning seventy years had passed since he went down with the Valkyrie had been tough. Though maybe not has tough as learning that Peggy had lived a life without him. 

The past few weeks he had been convincing himself that _ he _ had been her husband. That the timeloop was closed - he had not erased Peggy’s life - he _ was _ part of Peggy’s life.

But in the timeloop there could not be two Steves. 

He tore his eyes from himself, walking up to the table instead and opened the clasps of the briefcase. A heavy sigh escaped his lips as he found what he was looking for: the Time Navigator. Whoever had taken the briefcase had not toyed with it. 

His fist closed around it. He could leave this timeline, let Peggy heal his other him. Marry his other him - live her life with him. He knew better than to try and create his new history, to stay in his home. If he were to just go back to the future the past few months could just be a loving memory. He would’ve only had been gone for a few seconds and live on with Sam and Bucky. There would be time to fall in love with someone new, maybe start a family? 

But… could he though?

Hadn’t he tried?

Nothing could stop from Peggy appearing in his mind if he thought of being in love. Even after he had learned time had passed, he could only associate love with her. And now that he had gotten more than just a taste - but full glorious months of Peggy in his life - how was he to ever leave that behind?

He hissed at himself - realizing he might not have a choice. Peggy might ask him to leave.

Suddenly panicking, he stuffed the navigator in his pocket and left the room just as the door to the sick bay opened behind him.

He needed some fresh air. 

\---

How many tears had Peggy cried for Steve Rogers?

She didn’t dare to answer that herself. Yet more tears were adding to the growing collection. This time while sitting on the floor of her office, slumped against her desk. Her heart felt oddly active for being broken, thumping against her ribs and telling her not to overthink.

Two Steves.

_ Two Steves._

The thought wouldn’t leave her mind. 

Suddenly she longed for it to be just a day ago - to be without this knowledge. To be watching Steve build that bloody table, sweat gleaming on his chest and smiling at her like she was a million bucks.

If she had taken his advice not to go, she would’ve stayed with him for the rest of the day - the rest of the night. She would’ve slept soundly in his arms after they had made love.

_ Love _. He had said he loved her. But if Steve loved her then why did she feel so heartbroken?

With the back of her hand she wiped away the tears best she could to no avail - new tears simply took their place. She couldn’t comprehend what on earth they were going to do. How she was going to explain to the other Steve that she had been with… another him?

“This is ridiculous,” she said out loud to herself, followed by a hiccup.

Should she ask Howard?

What could he do. What could anyone do?

She closed her eyes and the soft vision of Steve kissing her cheek while she was going through files on his couch popped up. Her eyes quickly snapped back open. Letting out a huff, she scolded herself. Steve had kept secrets from her - had kept _ himself _ from her. 

They needed to talk, but she didn’t want to fight. With a sigh, she dropped her head into her arms.

And then the alarm rang.

\---

Resisting the urge to bang his head on the elevator wall once again, Steve sighed. It was now the time navigator burning a hole in his pocket.

Part of him wanted to find Peggy, to try and explain - to apologize. 

Part of him just wanted to set the time to where he had left Sam and Bucky and try the rest of his life to forget what he had done.

The doors slid open and he exited the bunker, stalling for just a second before stepping into the hot summer air.

Chewing on the inside of his cheek, he took out the time navigator and the ring box at the same time. Oh how close he had been at finding his happy ending.

He slid the navigator around his palm and pocketed the box.

It would’ve been so easy to just go - heartbreaking, no doubt. Cruel too, living without knowing what he was leaving behind. Never finding out either.

Just as he closed his eyes, his ears heard a distant ringing. Like an alarm of some sorts.

His eyes flew open - _ Peggy_.

\---

“Steve, please - it’s me -” Peggy gasped. She had known fear - met fear before but never like this. Never in her mind had she imagined Steve Rogers to look at her the way he did now. The rage in his eyes was something nightmares were made of. 

She was cornered with only the bed protecting her from immediate attack. Not that that would stop him. After she had heard the alarm, she had made her way back to the sickbay - only to find Agent Fowl with a gun against his sleep and Steve Rogers trying to make his way out of the room. The nurse who had presumably triggered the alarm was knocked out cold. Peggy had kicked Fowl hard before he could do the unthinkable and was now lying next to the nurse. Steve had his manic eyes set on her.

“St-Steve, you’re not yourself. I don’t understand - what - what did they do to you?” Swallowing away the build up in her throat, she had no other choice but to point her gun once again at a Steve Rogers. Though she must admit - never in all her times she had raised her gun at him, had she had the intention to shoot to hurt. But now her hand was trembling as Steve approached. She knew that she would be no match for his strength.

With shuddering breath she looked from Steve, he was terrifying, to the end of the barrel of her gun and then closed her eyes. It felt almost like slow motion - she couldn’t bare the thought she was going to shoot him, she couldn’t face it. Her finger was only the smallest pressure away from triggering it, before a crash and a grunt woke her from her trance.

She gasped. Steve had the man who was coming for her in a headlock, but the fight wasn’t over. They tumbled over furniture, pinned each other against walls, floors - they were in sync with every move. It shouldn’t have surprised her - as both were the same man. 

Her gun was still raised - she could save Steve. Hydra must have done something to the other Steve. He had seemed… normal back in Russia. What had triggered it?

“Peggy, no!” Steve gasped as he was suddenly in a headlock himself and the gun was pointed at him. She quickly changed her aim to the other man but Steve again yelled: “No!”

“Steve!” she shrieked and the fight continued. Both men started to bleed and she was at a loss to see who was actually winning. Again she raised to shoot at the other Steve.

“Peggy, no!” was again yelled at her. “He can’t help this -”

Steve was thrown across the room, crashing hard into a cupboard and several shelves with supplies came bursting out. He was bleeding. From where she was standing he looked severely injured - worse than she had ever seen him. 

She couldn’t shoot the other Steve.

She couldn’t lose her Steve.

She didn’t want to lose _ either_.

Frantically she searched around the floor that was scattered with vials and syringes from the cupboard.

Other Steve was approaching the Steve on the floor who looked beaten to a pulp. Shaking she went through vials and vials, the names on them barely readable because of her trembling hands.

Finally she read something she understood - _ horse __tranquilliser_ \- and stabbed the lid with a syringe. “Please work, please work,” she thought was a mantra and ran up to other Steve before he realized she was approaching. 

With a swift yank of her arm, she stabbed the syringe into his thigh. She knew that the super serum wasn’t going to let the tranquilliser work straight away and as soon as he turned around, he had set his sights on her again. She _ ran _.

However it wasn’t even half a minute before the man stumbled and went out like a light.

\---

With all his might, Steve tried to stay awake and pull himself up. He watched himself turn to run after Peggy and wanted nothing more than to save her. He was too tired, too broken to move and his eyes involuntarily closed.

At the sudden thud he feared the worse and tried again to move. What had he done? He had turned this timeline into a nightmare.

And then - “Steve?” Peggy’s voice sounded like an angel calling. “Find a medic! Restrain him, he won’t be out for long - find him a cell!” She must have been talking to other people who had been following the crashing and fighting.

“_Darling_,” she muttered. He felt his heart bloom and his head give up.

Next time he woke he was in a bed, his eyelids still too heavy to open. 

“He’s still out cold, ya know Peg - I think they messed with him real bad,” Howard’s voice said. 

“What do you mean?”

“His system isn’t purging out the tranquillise as it should. His wounds are as bad as they were hours ago and look at him -” A beat. “He’s already in the final stage of bruising.”

“Do you think that -”

Steve let out an involuntary groan and Peggy stopped talking. The sudden rush of wind and hand on his cheek let him know that she had ran up to him. His heart bloomed once more, his head sunk back into darkness.

Interestingly the next time he woke, he was in a car. He was still far from being healed properly - he had a few broken ribs that were mending - but he still felt rough. 

“We’re almost there,” Peggy suddenly said and he realized he was leaning against her on the backseat. “I’m sorry, my love -” His head told his heart it was time to go dark again.

He wasn’t sure how Peggy had managed to get him home, but he was certain he was currently being laid in his bed. The familiar smell of _ home _ filled his nostrils. Why was he home? They had turned the other him into a Winter Soldier - SHIELD wasn’t safe - he - he… he was being undressed.

Peggy was carefully removing his bloodied shirt, his shoes - even his socks. Until he was in nothing more than his briefs. They had long lost their modesty with each other, knowing every scar and birthmark on each other’s skin. Still he felt vulnerable, in too much pain to move.

Two thuds filled the room in short intervals - her shoes? A flurry of fabric followed. 

Then she was there, in his bed, curled up against him but careful not to aggravate his injuries. He groaned again.

She shushed him softly. “It’s okay - I’m here, I love you -”

And his heart and head harmoniously fell into a peaceful sleep.

\---

He woke with Peggy snug against him. His body might have been aching, but with her warmth wrapped around his side, he couldn’t help but feeling content.

Then he remembered why he was aching.

As soon as he had run into the room and saw the terrified and shocked look on Peggy’s face, he knew what Hydra had done to the other Steve - to _ him _. How had he not seen it coming? If Hydra could brainwash Bucky then why would he have been an exception?

Peggy stirred the slightest, smacking her lips. 

She had brought him home. Why he couldn’t understand. He had kept secrets from her - he had practically betrayed her - yet she had brought him home, had taken care of him - had said she loved him.

Then his body let out an involuntary groan.

Peggy was up with unmistakable alertness, eyes darting all over him to see where he was hurt.

“I’m fine -” he grunted, but Peggy was angling his face by the jaw to inspect his bruises and after that her hands fluttered over his bare chest. Her hair was a messy mop of what remained of her curls, some pins still trying to hold together the immaculate hairstyle she had worn the day before. He noticed her eyes were a bit puffy and with a pang of his heart he realized she must have cried non stop yesterday.

He watched her throw the blankets off of them to take a better look at the rest of his injuries. She was just in her underdress - the rest of her undergarments discarded on the floor. The swell of her breast moved freely underneath the satin and he was painfully aware of how dry his mouth was.

His stomach tensed when her fingers skimmed close to the waistband of his briefs. Briefs that definitely did not hide the growing erection he had been developing. Peggy paused.

While they knew each other’s bodies so intimately, Steve knew something must have changed between them after the truth came out. He knew he had to put a stop to it - he knew Peggy had to trust him again.

Therefore he couldn’t hide his gasp of surprise to her yanking down his briefs, exposing his hard on and sinking her mouth down around him. 

“P-Peggy -” he huffed, unable to stop his hand to cask through her hair and holding it as she bopped up and down. No longer did his body just ache with injury - it ached with want and _ lust _. Her hand squeezed around the base of his cock and he squeezed his eyes shut, panting.

A sudden rush of air made him shiver as she pulled up and his wet cock flopped to his abdomen. He looked up and stifled a groan at the sight.

Peggy looked wild, her hair come down even more and her lips swollen. She moved to straddle him, the heat between her legs welcoming his hard on.

_ “God_,” he choked, his hands moving to take firm holds on her bare thighs. His jaw actually dropped watching her pull over the satin underdress over her head and the glorious love his life looked down at him, unashamedly naked. 

With practised ease she moved his cock with her hand and he slid into the luring heat with another gasp.

He dropped his head against the pillow and the room filled with the soft noises of Peggy’s pleasure. Gripping her thighs even harder, he moved her back and forth as she bounced down. Her breasts bounced with her and without even thinking, one of his hands flung up to squeeze around one of them, pinching her nipple which was rewarded with a moan.

She dug her nails into his own chest, hardly able to stay up with Steve thrusting in and out of her without finesse. 

“Steve - St-Steve -” Peggy gasped in the familiar tone of her being close. With a final pinch at her nipple, he moved his hand between them and rubbed her clit.

He knew he couldn’t hold much longer, knew he had to pull her off soon before it was too late. However he was mesmerized by the sight. A sight he knew he could never recreate with anyone else but her.

She threw her head back as she came, trembling around his cock, which sent him over the edge too - coming inside of her for the first time they started having sex. 

Still panting hard they stared at each other until the position became uncomfortable. Both blushing a deep scarlet, Peggy pulled off him and for a second he thought she was marvelling at the sensation of his softening cock slipping out of her slick with come.

“Peggy - “ he started, but she interrupted.

“I didn’t hurt you?” 

The pain of his healing ribs and bruises made a vigorous return at the mention and he realized he had a terrible headache. His groan caused panic in her eyes, thinking she had actually hurt him.

“No, no you didn’t, it’s just - everywhere -”

Peggy crouched down, pressing a single - but deep - kiss on his lips. It was a firm message - _ we need to talk _. Later perhaps, but they needed to talk.

“I need to…” she nudged her head to the direction of the bathroom, and made her way out of the bed across the bedroom, unashamedly naked.

Steve swallowed. He was still processing what just happened, wondering what made Peggy care for him all of a sudden. Was it because he had saved her the day before? She had saved him more than anything.

The toilet flushed in the distance. He carefully turned around to find the rest of his clothes before he saw the time navigator lying on the floor. It must have rolled out of his pocket when Peggy undressed him.

But that didn’t make him stop in his tracks.

Not only had the navigator fallen out of his pocket.

So had the ring box.


	4. And Sometimes The Best We Can Do.

**And Sometimes The Best That We Can Do.**

**Camp Lehigh, Summer 1947**

Steve was in tremendous pain. It didn’t catch him with much surprise as the past few months had been nothing but _ pain_. However, it felt like a different pain. And he barely remembered how he managed to get in this state.

There had been a man, that’s all he could recall.

And then there was Peggy’s face. The fear in her eyes. It haunted him more than Hydra torturing him.

Suddenly he winced. A jab in his arm brought him back hard to reality, the last imprint of Peggy’s frightful face still fresh in his vision.

“Sorry, cap -” a familiar voice said. He followed the source of the sound - and pain - and noticed someone filling a syringe with blood from his right arm. “Hey look who’s back from the dead.” Looking up, he found no one other than Howard Stark examining the syringe before he looked down at him, shook his head and said: “This sure is weird.”

“Stark?” he croaked.

“Yeah, buddy,” Stark said, comparing the syringe with a different vial of blood. 

“Where’s - where’s Peggy? Is she hurt?” Panic rose in his chest and waited with beating heart as Howard sighed and put down both the syringe and the vial. 

“She’s fine, but -” he hesitated, “best to -”

“I need to see her -”

“- let her come to you.” Howard shook his head. “I mean it, best to wait. Best to… not struggle.”

It was then Steve realized he wasn’t just in a bed. Restraints kept him down firmly to the bed and looking past Howard’s head, he saw the door was enforced with bars. 

“I need to see her, I need to talk to her!” He tried to get up but his hurting body prevented him from even trying to fight the restraints. 

Howard eyed him before giving him the tiniest of shakes with his head. “Peg will come when ready. I understand you’d want to, but buddy - you scared the living daylights out of us. And you’re in no fit state to move around. Not until you’re healed or -” He took a minute to pick his words carefully. “Or no longer a threat,” he said bluntly.

\---

**New Jersey, Summer 1947**

Covering her breast with her arms, Peggy tiptoed back into Steve’s bedroom. She still didn’t know what had come over her, but there wasn’t an ounce of regret in her body.

She entered quietly in case Steve had gone back to sleep, but instead found him closing the drawer of his nightstand and the device that had resembled a watch was on his lap. Quickly she opened the closet near the door and took out one of Steve’s clean shirts, buttoning it while looking bashful over her shoulder. But the bashful look didn’t last long before it faltered.

Steve’s face looked sad, like he was about to break her heart against his will. And thinking she knew what the device on his lap was, she had an inkling of what was happening in that beautiful head of his. 

“No,” she said firmly, fastening the final button and sitting down on the edge of the bed. Steve looked at her stumped. “No,” she repeated.

“Peg -”

She shook her head and decided to change the subject. “How are you feeling?”

“Peg -” he said again, something in his face flickered. A war of thoughts, a war of knowledge that he wouldn’t be able to say what he wanted without her contradicting everything he was about to say. So he went with her new subject. “I’m fine, I - “ He looked down at his injuries that were already fading, at the bandage that was already useless on his right arm.

“Howard took some blood before I escorted you home,” she explained. “The other… man… appears to be healing a lot slower than you. Howard wanted to compare blood.”

Steve nodded and removed the bandage, balling it up and tossing it to the side. 

“You said,” she started, “that he couldn’t help what he was doing. Other - the other man, I mean.”

A heavy silence fell between them. Steve looked like he was chewing the inside of his cheek and unsure what to say, so Peggy pressed on.

“You told me not to go to Russia. If the other man wasn’t the reason, but you knew what happened to him there -”

“I didn’t know it had happened to _ him_.” Steve looked pained, like he didn’t want to tell her but knew he wasn’t going to be able to walk away from it.

“But you have seen it before,” she said in a whisper and coughed to regain her voice. “You said he couldn’t help it. How else would you know -”

Steve shifted underneath the blanket, hoisting himself up further to sit up straight against the headboard. She knew he was going to tell her now, and she knew not to interrupt. 

“I’ve seen it before, what they had done to… him. Back in the - “ he huffed out a laugh, “future. I encountered someone who was brainwashed by Hydra.” Panic bubbled in her stomach - Hydra was still active seventy years from now? She wanted to ask, but kept quiet as he continued: “There was a lot of trouble regarding him. There were battles, even broke down the team I was part of for the longest time.”

His hand shot up to his face, touching his chin as if stroking an invisible beard.

“He nearly killed me a couple of times, and then I nearly lost him a couple of times too -” He looked pained at the memory of losing this person.

“Lost him?” She couldn’t stop herself. “If he was trying to kill you -”

“I knew him,” he interjected, the pain now clearly in his face - the defeat of admitting it lingering in the air. “Hell, you know him too.”

Peggy jerked, taken aback. “What do you mean?”

“My best friend, James Buchanan Barnes, fell off a train in 1945 and returned to my life in 2014,” he sighed, “as the Winter Soldier.”

She knew she must have been staring at him in horror, tongue tripping over words, her lips refusing to make coherent sentences. “He - what? Barnes? Sergeant Barnes?”

“Hydra had been experimenting on him, brainwashed him like they did with… _ him_. He was trained to be the Fist of Hydra, and was kept in cryo freeze for many years.” Tears pooled in his eyes like the time he was mourning Sergeant Barnes back in the bombed pub. “I had no one from my past, well -” there was a meaningful look at her, “no one who had gone through similar life experiences.”

“And then he showed up -”

“And then Bucky showed up.” Steve’s lip quivered and he shuddered out a breath. “Suddenly he was back. Trying to kill me, not knowing who I was, but I tried everything to get through to him.”

“Did it work?” Peggy asked. “Did you rescue - did you fix him?”

Again Steve chewed the inside of his cheek. _ “Yes _,” he breathed.

“So when you told me not to go to Russia and it wasn’t the other man you didn’t want me to find.”

“I was afraid you would find Bucky.” He looked ashamed. 

“Why would that have been bad?” she asked perplexed. “I would’ve saved him, brought him here -”

“No, you have to understand -” Steve said quickly, “before you went and found… the other man… I thought I was in the original timeline. I didn’t know I had already created a new timeline, I thought I wasn’t being selfish this way around - I thought -” he closed his eyes, “I thought I had always been meant to go back to be... with you.” 

Peggy had a feeling he had said more than he had wanted to, but the question that had been swimming in her mind ever since he had told her he had come from the future was begging to come out.

“So you did try and find me then?” she asked, gently. “In the future?”

He smiled mournfully. “One of the first things I did after I had come to terms with what happened. Or even before - my first thought was that I was supposed to have a date with you.” 

“Did you find me?”

“Peggy -” The inner turmoil was visible. “I mean, I’d like to say there are rules to time travel but - I’m not sure if it’s best for you to know or not.” But Peggy was smarter than that.

“But I was meant to be with someone?” Her eyes shone brightly and Steve pursed his lips.

Finally he admitted: “His name was always redacted in any file I found.”

The heavy silence returned. Peggy curled up her legs underneath her, taking in everything he had just said. Steve knew things that were to come. Sergeant Barnes was out there somewhere as the Winter Soldier. He was brainwashed just like other Steve. Steve knew how to fix him. And Peggy Carter had spent her life with a man who was redacted from any future files.

Steve had picked up the watch-like device and toyed with it. “I can fix him for you,” he said, voice cracking.

She startled. “What do you mean?”

“Before I traveled here, Bucky had left me all the information to get Hydra out of his head in case I found him in a new timeline. He had hoped with me time travelling I could give another version of him peace. I didn’t realize I was going to have to fix _ myself_.”

“No I understand that, I know you can fix him,” Peggy replied, “but why would you fix him for me?”

A tear rolled down his cheek as he clutched the device. “So you two can be together.”

In an instant, and without thinking, Peggy had snatched the device from his hands and held it as far away from him as possible. He gaped at her.

“No,” she said, as firmly she had done when she had returned to the bedroom. She knew this was what he wanted to discuss the minute she had come back. “You are not taking my choice away from me. Not again.”

“Peggy - I can’t - I don’t deserve -” 

“You hear me, Steve Rogers, and you better listen carefully,” she hissed through her teeth, “I - choose - _ you_.”

\---

He was sure his heart was thumping so violently, Peggy could see it. The words rang in his ears.

_ I choose you. _ I - choose - ** _you._**

Tears were filling her eyes now too. “I love you, Steve.” 

He reached out, not to take back the device, but to hold her hand and thankfully she let him. 

“I love you too.” Nothing could express how _ good _ it felt to say that and how hard it was to say the following: “But it’s not that easy. It’s no longer a choice to make. I messed it up, big time, and I can’t let myself suffer like this -”

“We’ll figure it out -”

“No, I can’t put him through what I’ve been through. Worse even. Imagine finally getting that date you always wanted, the one you’ve been longing for - the one with your best girl and then learn she has spent her life with someone else, while for you it had only been _ minutes _ since you first kissed? I can’t live with that - ”

Peggy’s face contorted in anger. “You don’t get to decide, Steve. Not this time! You deserve your happiness, and it’s obvious you want this with _ me._” Her eyes flickered to the nightstand where he had hidden the ring box. “You went through hell and back, left everyone behind multiple times - you think kissing the love of your life and then waking up seventy years later is hard? Try kissing the love of your life only for him to sacrifice himself minutes later.” She bore her nails into his hand. “And I still went to the Stork Club the next Saturday. Every fibre in my being prayed for a miracle. Just one more miracle - just as you are. You never came, and I knew you would never have left me hanging if you had the chance to come back. I _ mourned _ you, Steve Rogers.”

“And I mourned _ you _ at your _ funeral,_” he bellowed. 

The words hung in the air. The realization of what they meant dawning on her face. She let go of his hand and finally he thought he had broken through to her that he had to go. But he was wrong. Instead she crawled onto the bed closer to him, straddling his still blanket clad legs, and cupped his face - the time navigator still in her hand. 

“Steve,” she whimpered, “oh, Steve.” And she kissed him, feverishly, apologetically. He kissed her back. “I’m - I’m sorry you had to live through that.”

“No, I shouldn’t have said -” he started and kissed him quiet. 

“I -” she huffed, pulling back. “I don’t know what to say.” She moved away slightly, the time navigator was held in her hands between them. “You’ve suffered so much.” Their foreheads met gently, both their eyes downcast at the navigator. “I’m sorry.”

“There’s nothing for you to be sorry about,” Steve sighed. “You had lived a life.”

“I would’ve regretted you didn’t get to live yours.”

Their tears fell at the same time, meeting on Peggy’s clutched together hands. 

“That’s why I can’t live my life now with you, while the other me begins his suffering. He doesn’t deserve that - he has already suffered through Hydra -” He clasped his own hands around hers and the navigator. 

“But where will you go?” she hiccuped. “Back to the future?”

He couldn’t help but laugh at the reference, a choked laugh - a mourning laugh. Peggy pulled away to look at him puzzled.

“Sorry - I didn’t mean -” He tried to pry the navigator from her hands, but she held onto it.

A frown formed on her face, and just has he thought he had gotten through to her on leaving her, she again said: “No.”

“Peggy - “ He didn’t want to ride the rollercoaster again. “I’ve told you -”

“And I’ve listened, and as much as you and the other man are the same -”

“We _ are _ the same.”

“I’m afraid I have fallen in love with you. The man from the future. We’ll figure it out.” She freed her hands and moved off the bed completely, looking around the floor for her clothes. 

“It’s not that simple, Peg.”

She laughed this time, an honest laugh. “Ha! If time travel is possible with this silly watch,” she twirled it in her hand, “then fixing this little problem is no issue. Suck it up, Steve Rogers, I’m in your life now - and I’m not easy to get rid off. And boy, have people tried.” She shrugged off the shirt, showing all her scars. “Apparently I live to at least 2014 -”

“Yes, in _ that _ timeline -”

“So better get ready for a long life with me, Rogers. As the redacted man in my files.”

She winked, and left for the bathroom to get changed, leaving Steve both flustered and exasperated.

\---

**Camp Lehigh, Summer 1947**

It must have been hours later since he woke up that someone came to remove his restraints. Howard had been present, watching from the sidelines along with an armed soldier.

“What’s going on?” he asked as his arms were freed. They were as bad as they were when he woke up, which was strange. He usually healed much faster.

Howard cleared his voice, he appeared jumpy and ready to run in case he was about to attack again. 

“Peggy wants to talk to you.” His heart jumped. “And she refuses to talk to you in this state.”

“I -” He wanted to say he wouldn’t harm her - but - he wasn’t sure anymore, so he just nodded.

Remaining in the bed, and with Howard’s final approval, the room cleared of soldiers, and Peggy entered. Howard looked reluctant, and said: “Guard is outside if needed.”

“I’m sure we’ll be fine,” she said, and approached him after telling Howard to leave. “Hello, Steve.” His insides froze. She sounded as cold and serious as the first day at Camp Lehigh - making herself distant from everything all the men might have been thinking of her.

“Peggy -” He wanted to apologize. Obviously he must have scared her with his little… outburst, but she cut him off.

“How are you feeling?” A little bit more warmth was audible in her voice.

“Sore,” he croaked. The corner of her mouth quirked sympathetically. 

“I need to ask you a couple of things,” she continued, “about what happened after you crashed the Valkyrie.” He closed his eyes, remembering her last words to him. Knowing she wasn’t asking out of curiosity, he started to talk, telling her how he woke up in the facility where she found him. The days bleeding into weeks, into months. The blood they took from him, the torture they put him under.

“Do you know what organization they were part of?”

“They were Russian,” he just said, “there wasn’t a lot of pleasantries and conversation when they tried to wreck my brain.” At this her hand twitched, like it was yearning to grab his hand and he wanted to know _ why _ she didn’t. But also knew why. “They use trigger words,” he explained, “my brain shuts down - I can’t fight it.”

“I know,” she replied, sounding truthful. 

“Peggy, I’m sorry. I can’t control it, I must have scared you - I would never put you in a position like that.” He held out his hand and closed it into a fist when she didn’t take it. Tears welling up in his eyes.

“I’m sorry too,” her voice broke and he realized she was crying as well, “but I have to tell you something.” He frowned. “A lot of time has passed since you went down.” His heart ached and yet somehow knew what she was about to say.

“You’ve moved on,” he stated and she flinched.

“Not exactly -”

The door opened and a man stepped in. It was the man he had fought, the man who had saved Peggy when he had gone berserk. And the man was him.

He scrambled up the bed, staring in horror as the man walked closer and stopped mere feet away. 

“What the hell is going on?” He eyed the man up and down and turned to Peggy. “What have they done to me?” he demanded to know. The Russians must have messed up his mind even more.

“At ease, soldier,” the man said - _ he _ said - it was his own voice, coming from another person.

“Get away from me!” he shouted.

“Steve, please,” Peggy pleaded, moving to stand in between them. “Let us explain.”

\---

Peggy knew this part was going to be hard, but her Steve was right when they were on their way back to headquarters - other Steve had the right to know. To have a chance to understand what had happened to him and what had happened since he had gone down.

Steve had been adamant to know what the other Steve had experienced, by whom and how much he knew. To know whether he knew who the Winter Soldier was.

“The less we tell him the better,” Steve explained, “but we need to know what he knows.”

She wasn’t sure why he was so eager to find out, yet part of her knew he was trying to tug her heartstrings. To make her change her mind of choosing him. And sure her heart ached for the other Steve. She wanted to protect him at all costs. But deep down all along, she had given her heart to the man she had handcuffed to a radiator.

“Who are you?” other Steve asked, eyes fixed on his likeness. 

“Peg,” her Steve said and she turned around. “Can you leave us for a minute?”

She shook her head jerkily. “Out of the question.”

“Please,” he begged, and stepped forward to whisper in her ear. “Remember when I returned and you didn’t believe it was me? He needs to understand.” Her eyes must have been blazing with fire at him. Nevertheless, she turned back to the other Steve.

“No fighting,” she demanded. Suddenly she held up her hand that was carrying another syringe with horse tranquilizer and other Steve’s eyes widened as she handed it to her Steve. “I will be right outside there.” Her hand now flung to the mirrored window and with her back as straight as her army days taught her, she marched out and joined Howard in the observation room.

Once there, she saw that neither Steve had moved.

“Who are you?” the other Steve demanded once again. 

“I’m just a little kid from Brooklyn,” he said calmly, and he told the man in the bed about his upbringing. Mentioning details only Steve could know - and possibly Bucky. Peggy jerked at the mention of her name. “It took me approximately fifteen seconds to fall in love with Agent Peggy Carter, after she punched Hodge in the face.” 

“She could’ve told you that,” other Steve interjected, nodding his head toward the window. 

“That’s true,” he agreed, his eyes, too, flickered to Peggy. “But there’s one thing only I could know because I experienced it, which I’d rather not share with her, so I’ll have to tell you quietly.”

Peggy frowned, inching closer to the window panel, and watched Steve put down the syringe.

“I won’t hurt you,” he said as he approached the bed, “but it’s rather embarrassing so I think we both agree, we don’t want her to hear it.”

Other Steve eyed him suspiciously and then nodded. Steve bent down low and whispered something so hushed Peggy thought she had gone deaf. She turned to Howard, who looked as confused as she did. 

However once Steve pulled away again, the man in the bed stared at him - no longer suspiciously, no longer in fear - but in utter bewilderment. His breath hitched, making his chest rise rapidly, and Peggy could feel the situation change. Suddenly Steve was alert and turned to the window.

“He’s having an asthma attack!” 

Howard swore next to her and ran out of the observation room. Peggy froze as she watched Steve in the bed gasping for air. What was happening? Steve called for a shot of adrenaline and as soon as Howard applied it, Steve tried to breathe with himself to a more steady pace.

“Just like Bucky used to do, remember?” he soothed.

Peggy was still frozen to the spot, unable to move. Finally other Steve seemed to calm down and Howard muttered something before adding something to his IV. He passed out almost instantly.

One glance from Howard to the window said enough that they needed to talk. Now. 

\---

They congregated in Howard’s office, Howard himself stacking papers on his desk. His fidgeting was making Steve nervous.

“Stark,” he said, “how is it possible that he’s having an asthma attack? The serum -”

“I did some blood comparison,” Howard interrupted, “and while I don’t fully understand Dr Erskine’s serum as much as I like. The levels are vastly different.”

Both Steve and Peggy stared at him in perplexed. 

“But - but what does mean?” Peggy finally asked and Howard hesitated, shifting his weight from one leg to the other.

“I can’t be sure, but looking at his wounds, the asthma attack - I think they must have purged the serum from him, reversing its effect.”

Steve made a huffing noise. “It didn’t affect his strength, he beat me up pretty badly -”

“I think that might be whatever Hydra has done to his mind,” Howard mused. “I think anything they tried with him has been accidental.”

“Except his mind,” Steve muttered low, and fished out a file himself that he and Peggy recovered upon their return to the base. “Could you do this?” he asked Stark, handing over the final thing Bucky had given him.

Howard’s eyes scanned the page before he whistled low. “I - in theory? Yes.”

A beat.

“And in practise?” Peggy urged. 

Howard’s expression was pained. “I wouldn’t want to risk it, not without knowing the effect it would further have on his health.”

The silence was deafening. A sudden chill made Peggy hug herself and a frown marked her forehead. They couldn’t risk Steve’s health - but if Hydra has control of his mind? They’d have to keep him under guard, hide him for life - could that even be considered a life?

“There’s one thing we can do,” Steve said, breaking the silence. He turned to Peggy. “Peg.”

They stared at each other, as intense as they could only do. It was like she knew exactly what he was thinking and reached for her purse, pulling out the time navigator.

“It’s the only way.”


	5. Is To Start Over.

**Is To Start Over.**

**Stork Club - 1945**

**Saturday. 8 O’Clock. On the dot.**

Despite it being a Saturday night, the club was oddly deserted. Peggy was sitting at the bar, ranting in her head about how the music was too loud. Only a handful of people were dancing and she ignored them with all her might. 

The thing about war was; reading about them in history books made them seem to have clear start and end date. There was a start, a middle and an ending. Living through one was much less clear. Was she near the end? Or was it still a beginning?

Steve had prevented a major incident, but it didn’t stop the war.

Without even asking her drink was refreshed and after considering downing it in one go, she decided against touching it at all. Though tonight would be the perfect night to drown her sorrows in alcohol, she was afraid her mind would only go into darker places. And in those places, Steve’s final words would repeat in her head over and over.

_ “I’m gonna need a raincheck on that dance.” _ Just one more miracle, Steve. _ Please. _

Her eyes flickered to the clock. It was a quarter after eight. He was officially late. A tear rolled down her cheek.

Suddenly the music turned to something slow. For a wild second she thought that it was maybe Steve asking the band to change the music - was it? Did he grant her one last miracle after all?

“Agent Carter,” a voice behind her said, and her heart leapt. However as she turned around, it wasn’t Steve. It were his Howling Commandos - all of the remaining ones - huddled in a group, their hats in their hands respectfully.

It had been Dum Dum Dugan who had spoken, holding his own bowler hat.

“We wanted to pay our respects in person,” he said, “I apologize if we’re imposing during this difficult time.”

She waved away his excuse with a flick of her wrist. “You’re not imposing,” she said, and the group heaved a breath in relief. Something magical happened. One by one, each of them stepped forward and told her how Steve changed their lives - whether it was a rescue, or making them a better man.

With each story, more tears fell down her face, which thankfully no one commented on. 

At last Dugan said his final words about Steve. “I may be no Captain America, but it would be my honor to fulfill his final wish and dance with his best girl.” He held out his hand which Peggy eyed suspiciously. “No strings attached,” he added with a wink.

With only a tiny bit of reluctancy, Peggy took his hand and let herself be whirled around by Dugan. The next song, Morita took over, followed by Falsworth and so on. And with every dance, a smile finally started to reappear on her face.

\---

**Camp Lehigh. Summer 1947**

Other Steve’s face was nothing more than bewildered as the three of them explained what the Russians had done to him.

“So they reversed its effect?”

“Partially,” Howard quipped, “I reckon you can live normally and healthy for the most part. Of all the illnesses listed before the serum, there are only fleeting remains. However, I don’t think you can serve as Captain America as you did during the war.”

His bewilderment turned helpless and Peggy looked at her own Steve, pleading silently with her eyes.

He cleared his throat at her urging. “This was never supposed to happen. This all together is my fault. Can - can I have a word in private?” The time GPS was burning a hole in his pocket once again. The others left with a nod, Other Steve looking longingly at Peggy. A look Steve knew very well himself. “I need you to stay calm, okay? We don’t want another asthma attack.”

Other Steve steadied himself. “You’re going to tell me how you got here?”

Steve nodded, and explained. He left out a lot of details - he didn’t want to overwhelm him or give away anything that could impact their future. 

It must have sounded crazy. It certainly did when he tried to explain to Peggy only the day before. But it was vital for Steve to understand, to know what caused this to happen - what he was about to ask him to do.

“And because of my foolishness, the Russians found your location and you were defrosted ahead of time.”

All things considered, Other Steve took it quite calmly. “Sounds like something I would’ve done,” he said dryly, “which I guess I did.” He sighed. “Time travel, huh?”

“Impossible things became possible.”

A huff. “I guess I’m living proof of that, and so are you.” He bit his lip in thought. “There are only two options - either I am still frozen and this is a weird realistic dream. Or you’re telling the truth. And let me tell you, pain isn’t as real in dreams as it felt these past few hours.”

They both chuckled before the silence set in.

“So what now?” Other Steve asked. “I go back into the ice and wait?”

Steve shook his head. “This never should’ve happened, plus your health - cryo will kill you, not induce you in a coma. I woke up from the ice thinking only hours had passed. I don’t remember this.”

“Plus you’re still looking quite springy for - how old are you? A hundred at this point?” Another huff. “You don’t look like you’ve been messed with by the Russians. All you wanted was to come back to… Peggy.” The sad look of longing returned. “Can’t believe I lost my best girl to myself.”

“Perhaps you didn’t,” Steve tried to steer the conversation to its conclusion, but Other Steve wasn’t having it.

“I see the way she looks at you. There’s more trust in her eyes than during the war, I can’t compete. I’m… broken now. Basically back as the scrawny boy from Brooklyn. Only taller.” His head thud against the pillow. “I’m not the Captain America she loves.”

“She doesn’t love Captain America,” Steve said, a bit sterner than he meant to, but he needed Other Steve to know, “there’s a moment in 1970, where I first saw her after a long time -” He had not mentioned seeing Peggy in the far future. “There was no Captain America picture on her desk.” His eyes flickered to the mirror where he knew Peggy was listening with held breath. “There was a picture of a scrawny boy from Brooklyn.”

Finally Steve took out the GPS. “This is what caused this mess,” he said, “and it’s what I reckon will fix it.”

\---

They had given Other Steve a few days to recover. SHIELD’s offices and the camp remaining closed for the rest of the week with high surveillance on any Russian intel. They couldn’t risk another infiltration. 

Finally, at the end of Friday, Other Steve stood in the middle of his old training camp in his military suit that Howard had dug up. Steve, Peggy and Howard stood in front of him, assessing the situation.

“This is it then, huh?” Other Steve asked. And the other three nodded solemnly. 

“You’re not safe here,” Peggy said quietly, “the Russians will try and break your mind whenever they can. I won’t let them weaponize you.”

Other Steve swallowed. He was still carrying heartbreak with him, but he shook it off. “So where are you sending me exactly?”

“Somewhere the Russians won’t know you’re alive, or know what they have done to you,” Steve said.

“But also when Steve here,” Howard nodded at Steve, “had not yet come back, so we don’t risk another timeline with two Captain Americas.”

“As soon as you show up, a new timeline will start,” Steve added, “a timeline where we are still in the ice, and will be until seventy or so years later.” He stepped forward, holding out the GPS and sliding it around Other Steve’s wrist. “Don’t tell anyone, don’t look for yourself. There’s only one more do-over,” he gestured to the GPS and then lowered his voice for only Other Steve to hear. “If my guess is right, this has always been the way it should’ve been. Remember that Steve in the ice will return here, that he is me.” He stepped back.

“So where is it safe for me to show up? I - I can’t be Captain America anymore,” his voice cracked, “What do I tell people?”

“Here,” Peggy said, but to her Steve, holding out a paper with a time and coordinates, “if he shows up here, it will be fine.” She then turned to Other Steve. “When you get there tell me - I mean, Peggy - that… the war is over. And that you can go home.” They looked at each other. “She’ll understand.”

Steve entered the details as noted on the paper, looking away as Peggy pressed a kiss on Other Steve’s cheek, and remembered something else.

“One more thing.” He ran to his truck that he had driven to the base and took out a circular bag together with a letter. “When the time comes, read this letter. And give the bag to Sam Wilson. It will take quite a while for the time to come, but I trust your gut.”

Other Steve took the bag, and then the letter. “Sam Wilson?” He lifted the bag and with one look at one other knew what it contained. “You sure?”

“He’s a good man,” Steve said. “The letter will explain, but don’t read it quite yet. You will have quite the life to live. Plus Sam isn’t born yet,” he added dryly.

Another silence, and they all knew that the time had come.

“This will work,” Steve assured. “Good luck.”

Other Steve sighed and looked at Peggy. “Guess I should better go apologize for being late, shouldn’t I?”

“You better should,” she said with a smile and added: “Goodbye, Steve.”

Other Steve nodded, hoisting the bag on his shoulder and lifting his wrist to press to go. He gave them a final look. “Stark, -” he said, looking at Howard, “Really hope this isn’t Stark made.”

Before Howard could realitate, Other Steve tapped the GPS and vanished before their eyes. 

“My inventions are _ fine_,” Howard muttered and stormed off. 

Steve and Peggy stood there a bit longer, Steve chuckling to himself.

“What?” she asked, wrapping an arm around his waist, but Steve just shook his head. He didn’t want to tell her that the GPS was _ actually _ Stark made. “You think he’ll make it?”

“I don’t know,” he answered honestly, “but I reckon I finally know who the redacted man in your files are. At least in that timeline.” He looked down and kissed her hairline. “Where exactly did you send him?”

“Somewhere I knew I wouldn’t question him showing up,” she said, “at least… not straight away.”

\---

**New Jersey. End of Summer 1947.**

The small box was burning a hole in Steve’s jeans. 

Once again he found himself wood working, finally polishing the finished product he had been working on all summer. It had been six weeks since Other Steve went back in time, and there was no way of learning if he had made it all right. Especially now that Steve really had lost his time GPS.

He was in a brand new timeline, and he knew there was a lot of work to be done to prevent disasters from happening. There was just something he wanted to do first, but still hasn’t gotten the chance to.

Summer was ending, though it was still hot as he added the final coat to the legs, sweat trickling down his back. 

“Steve?” Peggy’s voice rang across the yard and Steve quickly emerged from the shed, wringing his hands with a cloth. “Steve?”

“Peg?” he called, and jogged around to the front of the house where Peggy stood. “Everything all right?”

She once again was holding a bag full of files. Her eyes raked over him, the corner of her mouth twitching. “The team has gathered some further information regarding our… long lost friend.”

Steve nodded, he knew SHIELD would look for Bucky. Now that he knew he was free to create a new timeline, he had handed over all information on the Winter Soldier that Bucky had provided.

“And the interviews?”

Peggy nodded business-like. “Five more Hydra infiltrants apprehended.” A sigh. “It pains me that there is a timeline Hydra took over SHIELD.” He had told her to scrutinize any SHIELD employee, finding every Hydra agent possible. Zola was not going to win this time. 

“Good,” he said.

There was something in the air, he realized. Something he couldn’t quite grasp that there was something _ wrong_.

“Do you - do you want to come in?” he said with a gesture to the door but Peggy remained motionless, staring him down. “Something wrong? Peg?”

“Why haven’t you asked me yet?” she suddenly snapped. 

Steve started, even dropping the cloth in surprise as his pulse quickened. “I - I’m - what?”

Peggy closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath to steady herself. It was obvious she had not wanted to bring it up like this and it had just burst from her.

“I _ know_, Steve,” she said, and Steve himself was still too startled to understand what she meant. “The _ box_, Steve, the _ ring. _”

Steve let out a mutter, a huff of breath, and for a moment just stared at her. How - what? “Sorry -”

“God _ sake_, it’s been weeks!” she shrieked, dropping the bag and throwing up her hands. “Fine, I guess I’ll just do it myself -” And to Steve’s utter amazement she was moving to go down on one knee herself before his brain was returned to his body and he rushed down to stop her from doing so.

“Peg -”

“No, it’s about damn time and I don’t know what is keeping you!” She blew a strand of hair out of her face and fought pretty hard to try and get her knee on the floor. “Steve - Rogers - I - swear - let me _ propose._”

“Peggy, no -” he pleaded but Peggy’s eyes turned big. She stopped struggling.

“Is that why you haven’t? You changed your mind?” her voice filled with panic and a hand rushed down to her stomach to steady her breathing. “You don’t want to marry me?”

“No!” Steve exclaimed, but realized immediately he said the wrong thing _ again _ . “I do want to marry you!” he rushed and Peggy froze. “I do - I do, I - “ He let go of her and pulled out the box that had been _ itching _ to come out all summer. “I just - I wanted -” Suddenly a calm took over. He was panicking over nothing - _ they _ were panicking over nothing. She was always going to say _ yes_.

Finally he felt like the moment had come and helped her on her feet.

“Come with me,” he said and took her hand with his free one, leading her back to the shed in the yard. “I was waiting for the right moment.” He pushed open the doors to reveal the project he had been working on all summer.

A beautifully handmade vanity that would fit perfectly in the house - in _ their _ house.

“I wanted to present more than just a ring.” He swallowed and placed the ring box open on top, very grateful he polished that part first and was fully dry. Finally he turned around and found Peggy clutching her face, shaking slightly. “Peggy -” But she cut him off.

“You absolute moron,” she said, digging in her nails in her face, “you could’ve just _ asked. _I don’t need a vanity -”

Steve shrugged it off. “It was either this or a painting.”

Peggy dropped her hands, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Okay,” she said, steadying herself, “time to ask now.” Her tone was bossy and Steve couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Okay.”

He bent his leg, kneeling next to the vanity and took the box back into his hand.

“Margaret Carter, Peggy, my best girl -” She already let out a happy sob. “Will you marry me?”

She hiccuped, nodding and sobbing at the same time before composing herself. Her face splitting in an enormous smile. 

“Yes.”

\---

What followed, Steve must admit, was a bit of a blur. The ring had only been halfway down her finger when they rushed into a kiss, which rushed into Steve carrying her one armed into the house, which lead to Peggy lying on the bed in nothing _ but _ the ring.

She couldn’t stop smiling as he took off his own clothes, her hands reaching out for him eagerly and he joined her quickly.

Kissing frantically, hands wandered where they could. With his eyes closed, he savored the moment. He listened to her breathing, the small hitches that escaped her mouth. His enhanced hearing could hear her heartbeat clearly together with his own.

He pulled back.

“What’s wrong?” Peggy asked breathily as a frown marked his forehead. He shushed her gently, still listening intently. There was something else, a beating that was neither of theirs. “Oh.” 

His eyes opened and stared at her. “Oh?”

“Damn your hearing, Steve,” she sighed and scooted up the headboard. “Well, I guess there’s no use keeping it quiet.” Taking his hand, she moved it down her stomach where a soft swelling had formed. “Hate to ask for a shotgun wedding… but…”

Steve spread his fingers and realized where the beating was coming from. “How -”

“Well, we were about to - you know -” She rolled her eyes. “SHIELD’s doctors are decreet, no need to worry. Especially not now -” She placed her left hand on her chest and the ring sparkled. “I’m sure we can arrange something… quickly.”

Still staring at her incredulously, Steve tried to process the fact that he was going to be a _ father. “_Peggy -”

“It’s all right, I’m pretty sure Howard is ordained,” she said as a matter of factly, “Jarvis will make a great maid of honor. Ana can cater - hope you like Hungarian food. Angie can be the flower girl -”

“Peg,” he cut her off, not unkindly. “Are you - did the doctor - are you okay?”

She stared for a second. “Oh yes, everything appears to be fine.” Gently she kissed him. “Now there’s a lovely little church in Brooklyn -”

A laugh burst out of him. He couldn’t believe how they went from celebrating their engagement to planning their wedding because of their growing family. There was just one thing missing, he had to admit, and his face had to be showing the sadness.

“What’s wrong?” She caressed his cheek. “We can also just go to city hall?”

“No, that’s not it,” he sighed, “I guess we need to get a move on with finding our long lost friend.” 

“Oh?”

“I’ll be in need of a best man.”

  
  
  
  


-

\--

\---

\----

\-----

\----

\---

\--

-

  
  
  


**Stork Club - 1945**

**Saturday. 8:15pm.**

Peggy’s eyes flickered to the clock. It was a quarter after eight. He was officially late. A tear rolled down her cheek.

Suddenly the music turned to something slow. For a wild second she thought that it was maybe Steve asking the band to change the music - was it? Did he grant her one last miracle after all?

“Agent Carter,” a voice behind her said, and her heart leapt. She looked over her shoulder and her arm shot out so violently, the glass holding her drink tipped over, rolling over the bar. “I’m sorry I’m late.”

She could only stare, her heart beating violently.

It was him.

It was Steve.

**End.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for sticking around! Really hope you enjoyed my little take of missing moments. Many timelines!
> 
> Endgame Steve: Created a new timeline by going back at the end of Agent Carter Season 1
> 
> Frozen Steve: Went back to canon timeline, fulfilling the timeline - as he had no knowledge of the future or Bucky, he could live normally with Peggy. The letter Endgame Steve gave explained Tony told him to enjoy life and that Sam was the best man to take on the SHIELD. He and Bucky had quite the things to catch up on.
> 
> Agent Carter Season 2: whole different timeline
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
